PHYSICAL  SCIENCE 

IN  THE  WORK  OF  EDUCATION. 


REV.  DR.  GREEN’S  ADDRESS 

AT 

LAFAYETTE  COLLEGE, 

% 

JULY  25,  1865. 


[TUTTLE 


THE 


VALUE  OF  PHYSICAL  SCIENCE 


IN  THE 


WORK  OF  EDUCATION. 


AN  ADDRESS  DELIVERED  JULY  25th,  1865,  UPON  LAYING  THE  CORNER- 
STONE OF  THE  JENKS  CHEMICAL  HALL 


AT  LAFAYETTE  COLLEGE. 


BY 

REV.  W.  HENRY  GREEN,  D.  D., 

Professor  in  the  Theological  Seminary,  Princeton,  N.  J. 


PRINTED  BY  ORDER  OF  THE  BOARD  OF  TRUSTEES. 


EASTON,  PA. 

1865. 


EXTRACT  FROM  THE  MINUTES  OF  THE  BOARD  OF  TRUSTEES. 


Lafayette  College,  July  26,  1865. 

Resolved,  That  the  thanks  of  this  Board  he  presented  to  Barton  H.  Jenks,  Esq.,  of  Bridesburg , 
for  his  generous  offer  to  erect  a suitable  building  for  the  use  of  the  Chemical  Department  of  this 
College. 

Resolved,  That  President  Cattell,  Professors  Traill  Green,  and  J.  H.  Coffin,  Mr.  James 
McKeen,  and  M.  Hale  Jones,  Esq.,  be  a Committee  to  superintend  the  erection  of  the  building 
after  the  design  furnished  by  John  McArthur,  Jr.,  of  Philadelphia,  and  that  said  building  be 
known  as  the  Jenks  Chemical  Hall. 

Resolved,  That  the  thanks  of  the  Board  be  presented  to  the  Rev.  Professor  "W.  Henry  Green, 
D.  D.,  for  his  address  of  yesterday,  delivered  by  request  of  the  Faculty,  at  the  laying  of  the 
corner  stone  of  the  new  Hall,  and  that  a copy  be  requested  for  publication. 


Printed  by  Alfred  Martien, 
606  Chestnut  Street.  Philadelphia. 


507 

Q ?-*?✓ 


ADDRESS. 


We  are  met  to  lay  the  corner-stone  of  The  Jenks 
Chemical  Hall.  Connecting  this  event  with  its  pro- 
bable consequences,  we  may  pronounce  it  one  of  real 
magnitude.  Every  right  impulse  given  to  the  cause 
of  education  is  of  incalculable  value.  Every  addition 
to  the  means,  every  increase  of  the  facilities  of  manly 
culture  deserves  to  be  hailed  with  gratitude  and  joy. 
He  who  extends  the  advantages  of  intellectual  and 
moral  training  to  those  who  would  not  otherwise  have 
possessed  them,  or  renders  more  complete  and  thorough 
the  discipline  of  mind  and  heart  of  those  who  are  in 
a course  of  instruction,  ought  to  be  held  in  honour  as  a 
public  benefactor.  And  when  this  is  done  by  a per- 
manent foundation,  whether  by  the  erection  of  neat 
and  appropriate  buildings,  such  as  that  which  is  here 
contemplated  for  scientific  uses,  or  by  endowments 
securing  in  perpetuity  a succession  of  able  and  quali- 
fied teachers  in  sufficient  numbers,  or  affording  to 
deserving  but  needy  pupils  the  requisite  pecuniary 
assistance,  we  see  one  of  the  noblest  uses  to  which 


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money  can  be  put,  and  we  admire  their  largeness  of 
heart  and  breadth  of  view  and  far-sighted  benevolence, 
to  whom  God  has  given  along  with  wealth  this  com- 
prehension of  its  real  value,  and  the  wisdom  to  convert 
it  into  exhaustless  mines  of  treasure,  which  cannot  be 
weighed  with  gold. 

The  great  problem  in  our  collegiate  system  is  to 
combine  in  the  most  effective  manner  the  wide  diffu- 
sion of  liberal  culture  with  the  highest  possible  attain- 
ments. As  institutions  of  learning  are  multiplied,  the 
advantages  which  they  offer  are  put  within  reach  of 
greater  numbers,  and  many  are  induced  to  avail  them- 
selves of  privileges  cheaply  offered  and  brought  to  their 
doors,  who  would  have  been  deterred  by  distance  and 
expense.  Each  creates  about  itself  a fresh  circle  of  lite- 
rary influence,  and  inspires  a zeal  for  learning  in  some 
at  least  who  would  never  have  felt  the  stimulus  of 
remoter  institutions  even  though  they  were  of  a highei* 
order. 

There  is  a danger,  however,  of  dissipating  our  forces, 
and  wasting  our  strength  by  scattering  upon  too  many 
points  what  could  only  be  really  effective  by  being 
concentrated  upon  a smaller  number.  No  small  injury 
has  resulted  to  American  scholarship  by  the  solicitude 
to  increase  the  number,  irrespective  of  the  character  of 
our  colleges.  If  they  be  feebly  manned  and  poorly 
equipped,  they  are  an  evil  and  an  incumbrance,  stand- 


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ing  in  the  way  of  others  and  a check  upon  their  pros- 
perity, while  doing  a real  injury  to  as  many  as  resort 
to  them,  who  are  cheated  out  of  the  education  which 
they  might  have  obtained  elsewhere. 

A college  to  fulfil  its  true  idea,  and  to  answer  in  any 
worthy  manner  the  end  of  its  establishment,  ought  to 
be  possessed  of  ample  facilities  for  the  work  of  a tho- 
rough education.  It  should  be  possessed  of  an  ade- 
quate corps  of  instructors  well  versed  in  their  various 
departments,  of  abundant  apparatus  of  the  best  de- 
scription, of  large  and  well  selected  libraries,  of  scien- 
tifically arranged  cabinets  and  museums.  It  ought  to 
be  in  an  eminent  sense  a seat  of  learning,  a centre  of 
instruction  not  only  to  the  immediate  body  of  pupils 
gathered  there,  but  from  which  knowledge  should  radi- 
ate to  the  wider  public.  The  professors  should  be  pro- 
vided with  all  the  appliances  necessary  for  prosecuting 
learned  investigations  and  engaging  in  the  work  of  sci- 
tific  research  and  discovery,  so  that  they  might  be  ad- 
vancing the  boundaries  of  knowledge  and  making  addi- 
tions of  permanent  value  to  the  general  stock  of  our 
literature.  All  this  cannot  be  without  large  endow- 
ments. The  outlay  involved  is  necessarily  very  great, 
though  the  returns  will  be  such  as  abundantly  to  com- 
pensate for  it. 

Every  true  friend  of  Lafayette  is  rejoiced  to  see  her 
bestirring  herself  with  such  zeal  and  such  a hopeful 


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measure  of  success  in  this  direction.  The  leading  in- 
stitutions of  the  country  have  been  moved  as  by  one 
common  impulse  to  seek  the  enlargement  of  their  en- 
dowments, and  thus  increase  their  facilities  for  impart- 
ing a broad  and  thorough  culture.  And  the  noble  and 
generous  response  made  to  these  solicitations  will 
always  remain  an  honourable  record.  That  during  a 
civil  war  of  such  magnitude,  entailing  such  sufferings 
and  losses,  and  demanding  such  enormous  expenditures 
in  its  prosecution,  the  American  public  not  only  bore 
uncomplainingly  the  burdens  thus  necessarily  imposed 
upon  them,  but  continued  still  to  sustain  with  even 
more  than  their  former  vigour  their  accustomed  charities 
and  operations  of  religious  benevolence,  and  added  to 
these  those  extraordinary  contributions  poured  forth 
without  stint  in  aid  of  the  Christian  and  Sanitary  Com- 
missions and  kindred  agencies,  and  beyond  all,  contri- 
buted princely  sums,  greater  than  at  any  former  period, 
for  the  permanent  endowment  of  literary  and  theologi- 
cal institutions ; this  may  wrell  stand  to  the  credit  of  our 
people  and  repel  the  charge  so  often  made  of  sordidness 
and  supreme  devotion  to  mere  material  wealth. 

We  accept  it  as  a pledge  and  augury  for  the  future, 
that  in  this  new  stage  of  its  history  upon  which  our 
country  is  now  entering,  a higher  style  of  education 
will  be  sought  after  and  insisted  upon,  than  has  thus 
far  been  attained  to.  In  the  preliminary  work  of 


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opening  up  this  vast  continent,  such  has  been  the 
demand  for  labour  in  every  department,  that  men 
grudged  the  time  required  for  a thorough  training. 
The  necessity  was  so  urgent,  that  poorly  furnished 
workmen  were  better  than  none.  We  are  now  passing 
into  a more  settled  state  of  things,  for  which  the  con- 
vulsions of  the  last  four  years  seem  designed  to  prepare 
the  way.  It  was  a question  whether  such  an  extent  of 
territory  could  be  held  together,  and  whether,  as  our 
population  expanded,  it  would  not  fall  asunder  of  its 
own  weight;  whether  the  divergent  tendencies  of  indi- 
vidual freedom  and  of  distinct  local  governments  would 
not  prove  too  strong  for  the  central  authority;  whether 
our  very  prosperity  was  not  depraving  our  national 
character,  and  engendering  a weakness  which  was  the 
precursor  of  dissolution;  and  whether  the  system  of 
slavery,  which  had  been  first  tolerated  and  then  petted, 
though  diametrically  opposed  to  the  principles  of  our 
government,  was  not  gaining  such  control  over  our 
national  councils  as  to  make  this  free  nation  the  propa- 
gandist of  bondage. 

These  questions  were  to  be  met  and  settled  before 
we  could  be  suffered  to  growT  into  a populous  nation. 
The  providence  of  God  has  brought  them,  as  we  hope 
and  trust,  to  a final  solution.  A sentiment  of  national- 
ity has  been  developed,  crushing  every  tendency  to 
secession  and  disintegration,  and  inspiring  the  whole 


UNIVERSITY  OF 
ILLINOIS  LIBRARY 
AI  URBANA'CHAMPAIGN 


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people  with  the  instinct  of  a common  life.  The  heresy 
of  unlimited  State  sovereignty  has  been  effectually 
rebuked,  and  the  true  doctrine  of  our  national  Consti- 
tution has  been  vindicated  by  the  strong  arm  of  the 
people.  A spirit  of  heroic  self-sacrifice  and  devotion 
to  the  public  good  has  been  awakened  in  the  heart  of 
the  nation,  which  will  not  lightly  part  with  that  for 
which  it  has  toiled  and  suffered,  as  it  did  from  the 
assault  upon  Sumter  to  the  surrender  of  Lee.  And  > 
slavery  has  ceased  to  be. 

These  perils  are  now  past.  Our  institutions  have 
been  tested  and  purged.  They  are  actually  stronger 
than  they  were,  and  our  confidence  in  them  has  been 
increased.  They  have  borne  the  sudden  and  enormous 
strain  to  which  they  have  been  subjected,  and  have 
demonstrated  their  capability  to  bear  the  pressure  to 
which  expanding  numbers  and  advancing  time  will  be 
sure  to  subject  them.  It  is  the  experimental  test  prior 
to  actual  use.  We  are  now,  under  the  leadings  of 
God’s  good  providence,  to  unfold  ourselves  to  a mighty 
people,  and  to  develope  the  civilization  for  which  he 
has  destined  this  continent,  with  its  marvellous  struc- 
ture, its  amazing  resources,  and  its  wonderful  history. 

To  guide  in  this  developement,  and  to  make  it  what 
it  should  be,  the  highest  powers  of  mind  and  heart  will 
be  required.  We  need  in  our  statesmen  and  legisla- 
tors, we  need  in  our  ambassadors  at  foreign  courts,  we 


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need  in  every  profession  and  line  of  life,  what  we  have 
learned  at  a terrible  cost  was  needed  in  our  generals. 
A thorough  course  of  training  appropriate  to  their  work 
is  necessary  to  fit  them  for  it.  Third  and  fourth-rate 
men  will  answer  the  necessities  of  the  country  no 
longer.  We  want  well-developed,  full-grown  men, 
whose  powers  have  been  cultivated  to  the  highest 
attainable  point — the  ablest  and  best  who  can  be  pro- 
duced—who  have  had  every  advantage  for  self-culture 
afforded  them,  and  have  made  good  use  of  their  advan- 
tages. The  fostering  care  bestowed  in  this  great  crisis 
upon  our  educational  institutions  is  full  of  hope,  as  it 
shows  that  the  quick  sense  of  our  countrymen  has  dis- 
cerned the  urgent  want  of  the  times,  and  is  bent  upon 
having  it  supplied. 

The  Hall,  whose  corner-stone  we  are  about  to  lay, 
suggests  by  contrast  the  straitened  accommodations 
for  the  chemical  class  in  the  model  school  basement, 
and  the  slender  apparatus  of  my  college  days.  The 
only  matter  of  astonishment,  is  that  so  much  was 
accomplished  in  the  way  of  experiment  and  illustration 
by  the  ingenuity  and  skill  of  our  respected  instructor, 
the  same  who  still  adorns  this  department,  and  the 
only  link  remaining  to  connect  the  faculty  as  it  is  now 
and  as  it  then  was.  It  is  a matter  of  sincere  congratu- 
lation, in  which  I am  sure  all  his  former  pupils  and  all 
the  friends  of  the  College  will  join,  that  his  past  ser- 


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vices  and  his  eminent  abilities  have  met  the  recognition 
to  which  they  are  entitled;  and  that  instead  of  strug- 
gling in  the  future,  as  he  has  done  in  the  past,  against 
untold  disadvantages  in  his  work  of  instruction,  he  is 
henceforth  to  be  provided  with  the  needed  appliances, 
and  to  have  a laboratory  and  apparatus  worthy  of  the 
College,  befitting  the  present  advanced  state  of  chemi- 
cal science,  and  which  will  compare  favourably  with 
those  of  the  best  institutions  of  the  country.  But  one 
thing  more  is  needed  to  put  this  department  on  the 
best  possible  footing,  and  to  make  it  all  that  any  friend 
of  education  can  desire — -a  step  the  natural  sequel  of 
that  which  has  been  taken  this  day,  and  which,  I trust, 
a generous  and  appreciative  public  will  not  suffer  to  be 
long  delayed,  viz.,  that  this  professorship  should  be 
fully  endowed,  and  my  respected  friend  and  teacher, 
whose  admirable  fitness  for  the  post  is  confessed  by  all 
who  know  him,  should  be  relieved  from  the  exacting 
demands  of  his  medical  practice,  and  enabled  to  devote 
his  undivided  strength  to  the  proper  duties  of  his  pro- 
fessorship. 

And  I cannot  forbear  in  passing  to  congratulate  the 
College  upon  the  whole  series  of  buildings — finished, 
begun,  and  projected,  which  are  to  adorn  this  hill;  and 
particularly  upon  that  whose  corner-stone  we  saw  laid 
last  year,  and  which,  besides  its  general  and  obvious 
connection  with  my  theme,  has  an  intimacy  of  relation 


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with  it,  which  they  who  are  acquainted  with  the  muni- 
ficent  donor,  will  appreciate.  It,  too,  by  contrast,  sug- 
gests memories  of  the  past,  of  the  honoured  and  lament- 
ed Macartney,  whose  panegyric  I would  love  to  pro- 
nounce, if  this  were  the  proper  place  and  time.  I 
recall,  as  though  it  were  yesterday,  the  gathering  of 
my  class  about  him  on  the  College  campus  one  star- 
light night,  as  he  pointed  out  the  leading  constella- 
tions, traced  the  path  of  the  sun  in  its  annual  course 
through  the  heavens,  and  indicated  the  principal  lines 
upon  the  celestial  globe,— the  observations  taken  from 
the  College  cupola  on  the  day  of  the  annular  eclipse,* 
and  the  sundry  uses  of  quadrants,  theodolites,  &c.,  for 
obtaining  the  elements  wherewith  to  compute  latitude, 
longitude,  and  various  celestial  phenomena.  I cannot 
but  think  what  effective  use  he  would  have  made  for 
purposes  of  instruction,  and  for  purposes  of  science,  of 
this  observatory,  with  its  equatorial,  its  transit,  and 
other  instruments;  and  I rejoice  at  the  facilities  put 
into  the  hands  of  his  accomplished  successor,  and  which 
will  doubtless  increase  a scientific  fame  already  widely 
spread. 

The  present  advance  of  education  is  taking  more  and 
more  the  direction  of  natural  science,  not  with  the  view 
of  superseding  the  existing  curriculum,  but  of  supple- 
menting it.  We  see  this  in  the  various  scientific 

* September  18th,  1838. 


/ 


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schools  and  agricultural  schools,  and  schools  for  the 
arts  and  for  mining,  which  are  founded  as  separate 
institutions,  or  erected  in  connection  with  our  best 
endowed  colleges.  We  see  it  in  State  endowments  for 
these  purposes.  We  see  it  in  the  growing  public 
demand  for  that  particular  style  of  instruction,  which 
must  be  met  in  some  form  or  other.  We  see  it  in  acts 
of  munificence,  like  that  which  has  prompted  the 
founding  of  this  astronomical  observatory,  and  this 
chemical  hall. 

The  reasons  which  have  contributed  to  and  which 
justify  this  movement,  are  manifold. 

One  of  the  most  important  is  derived  from  the  part, 
which  it  is  coming  to  be  more  and  more  distinctly  seen, 
the  natural  sciences  are  capable  of  taking  in  the  train- 
ing of  the  mind,  in  that  which  is  the  grand  aim  of  a 
liberal  education,  the  development  of  the  man. 

The  materials  for  the  mental  training  of  each  genera- 
tion are  to  be  found  in  the  intellectual  achievements  of 
its  predecessors.  Another  can  teach  us  only  by  leading 
us  to  think  the  thoughts  which  he  has  had,  and  to  rise 
to  the  conceptions  which  he  has  gained.  It  is  by 
exercising  them  in  the  realms  of  truth,  under  the  guid- 
ance of  those  who  have  already  explored  them,  that  our 
powers  grow.  It  is  by  toiling  through  the  passes  over 
which  former  travellers  have  made  their  way,  and 
clambering  up  the  steps  which  they  have  hewn  in  the 


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precipitous  rock,  that  we  acquire  strength  of  muscle 
and  firmness  of  tread.  The  most  effective  discipline  for 
strengthening  and  expanding  the  mind  is  setting  it  to 
grapple  with  the  problems  that  the  great  master  spirits 
of  our  race  have  struggled  with  and  laboured  at,  and 
shown  us  how  to  solve. 

There  is  a deep  philosophy  in  the  common  word 
information . It  implies  that  the  impartation  of  know- 
ledge informs  the  mind,  gives  shape  and  form  and 
character  to  what  would  otherwise  be  confused,  chaotic 
and  unmeaning.  The  intellect  untaught  is  like  shape- 
less, unwrought  material,  “rudis  indigestaque  moles.” 
Knowledge  exerts  a moulding  influence  upon  it,  brings 
its  hidden  faculties  into  conscious  exercise,  developes 
its  latent  capabilities,  gives  bent  and  direction  to  its 
powers,  acts  the  part  of  the  sculptor  who  discovers 
shapes  of  beauty  in  the  marble  which  only  had  an  ideal 
existence  there  before. 

The  best  system  of  education  that  can  be  devised  in 
any  age  or  country,  will  depend  upon  the  sum  of 
knowledge  which  is  possessed  and  can  be  made  avail- 
able for  the  training  of  the  mind.  Mathematics  owes 
its  name  to  the  fact  that  in  the  early  period  of  Greek 
culture  it  constituted  the  course  of  study — patty  panxd, 
“the  things  to  be  learned.”  It  was  the  only  well 
developed  body  of  knowledge  then  existing  that  de- 
served the  name  of  a science.  And  the  clearness  and 


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precision  of  its  ideas,  the  rigour  of  its  methods,  and  the 
evidence  and  certainty  of  its  results,  made  it  a favourite 
discipline  with  reasoners.  It  has  retained  its  place  in 
the  curriculum  of  liberal  study  ever  since.  But  mean- 
time how  has  it  been  expanded  by  the  modern  analysis 
and  the  calculus,  by  new  applications  to  mechanics  and 
optics,  to  the  laws  of  fluids  and  the  motions  of  the  stars, 
to  every  branch  of  physical  science  and  of  human  art] 
And  who  would  now  dream  of  limiting  a course  of 
mathematical  study  to  the  geometry  which  Plato  made 
preliminary  to  an  entrance  upon  philosophy] 

The  well-known  trivium  and  quadrivium  which  com- 
posed the  curriculum  of  the  middle  ages,  embraced  the 
principal  branches  of  science  cultivated  then. 

The  revival  of  classical  learning  introduced  the  study 
of  the  polished  languages  of  Greece  and  Borne  among 
the  regular  branches  of  education,  at  first  chiefly  for 
the  sake  of  an  introduction  to  that  elegant  and  varied 
literature  to  which  they  afford  the  key,  afterwards  in 
addition  for  the  discipline  of  mind  which  the  mastery 
of  the  tongues  themselves  imparted.  But  how  much 
does  the  study  of  language  now  involve  beyond  what 
was  thought  of  or  imagined  at  the  beginning!  The 
entire  science  of  philology,  with  its  revelations  of  the 
inner  structure,  the  growth  and  the  affinities  of  tongues 
is  of  recent  growth. 

Physical  science  has  very  commonly  been  under- 


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valued  as  a means  of  education.  It  is  said,  and  very 
properly,  that  the  principal  aim  of  the  college  course  is 
not  the  communication  of  knowledge,  but  the  discipline 
of  the  mind.  Still,  if  the  views  presented  are  correct, 
these  are  not  independent  of  one  another.  It  is  by  the 
reception  of  knowledge  that  the  mind  is  stimulated  to 
activity  and  its  powers  put  to  their  proper  use,  so  that 
they  can  receive  their  just  expansion  and  developement. 
Mere  collections  of  facts,  however  carefully  observed 
and  exactly  recorded,  would,  it  is  true,  be  of  small 
account  in  the  training  of  the  mind.  A meteorological 
register  would  be  of  no  avail  for  purposes  of  education. 
Facts  unconnected  and  unexplained  are  mere  lumber 
in  the  memory  of  the  student.  They  do  not  educate. 
They  require  no  thought,  no  processes  of  comparison, 
judgment,  or  reasoning.  They  suggest  no  clear  ideas. 
They  do  not  constitute  science.  Science  implies  classi- 
fication and  arrangement:  phenomena  must  be  traced 
to  their  causes,  principles  be  connected  with  their  con- 
sequences, and  the  ideas  which  govern  the  whole  be 
clearly  set  forth. 

The  vulgar  eye  looks  at  the  flame  of  a candle  and 
sees  nothing  but  a very  ordinary  affair,  which  scarce 
attracts  attention.  Science  detects  in  that  hollow 
pyramid  of  incandescent  carbon,  which  we  call  flame,  a 
world  of  wonders.  The  laws  of  decomposition  and 
recombination  are  therein  illustrated;  the  equilibrium 


16 


of  forces  acting  in  various  directions  to  which  the  blaze 
owes  its  steadiness  and  regular  shape,  its  apparent  con- 
tinuity, though  made  up  of  minute  and  separate 
particles,  and  its  seeming  permanence  though  renewed 
like  the  rainbow  at  every  successive  instant;  the 
tremendous  energy  of  these  forces,  which  is  such  that 
the  molecules  of  oxygen  eliminated  from  the  surround- 
ing air,  impinging  from  infinitesimal  distances  upon 
molecules  of  solid  carbon  disengaged  from  the  gas 
which  held  them  in  combination,  produces  an  intensity 
of  heat  greater  than  ponderous  trip-hammers  urged  by 
the  most  powerful  machinery  can  produce  by  repeated 
strokes  on  bars  of  metal,  and  suggesting  among  its  end- 
less analogies  and  relations  that  sublime  cosmical 
hypothesis  which  finds  an  adequate  cause  for  the  perma- 
nent and  undiminished  heat  of  the  sun  in  a like  play 
of  forces  and  the  impinging  of  nebulous  matter  upon 
its  surface;  and  beyond  all  the  mysterious  nature  and 
wide  connections  of  light  and  heat  are  opened  for  con- 
sideration. So  that  it  is  not  surprising  that  one  of  the 
most  distinguished  chemists  of  the  present  day  made 
the  flame  of  a candle  his  text  in  a most  instructive 
series  of  lectures,  such  as  it  would  be  in  a high  degree 
educating  to  listen  to  and  to  follow. 

That  amber  when  rubbed  draws  light  substances  to 
itself,  and  that  the  loadstone  attracts  iron,  were  phe- 
nomena known  to  the  ancients.  But  they  had  no 


17 


notion  of  the  causes  that  produced  them,  or  of  their 
multitudinous  relations.  They  never  thought  of  any 
laws  involved,  or  principles  that  had  a wider  range  of 
application.  And  yet  when  curiosity  had  been  stimu- 
lated to  careful  investigation  and  these  vague  hints 
were  followed  out  to  their  results,  it  was  found  that 
these  seemingly  isolated  phenomena  were  after  all  not 
freaks  of  nature,  but  starting  points  of  an  extensive 
system.  The  discovery  that  in  each  case  the  attraction 
was  matched  by  a counter-repulsion,  gave  birth  to  the- 
idea  of  polarity  with  all  its  wonderful  applications. 
The  agents  in  these  phenomena  were  further  recognized 
on  a large  scale  in  the  sphere  of  the  world ; the  one  in 
the  lightning  flash  and  various  electrical  manifestations, 
the  other  in  the  magnetic  condition  of  our  globe.  The 
properties  of  these  two  analogous  and  yet  dissimilar 
fluids,  if  so  they  are  to  be  called,  open  a broad  range 
for  separate  investigation.  A third  discovery,  which 
ran  its  independent  course  for  awhile,  served  however 
ultimately  to  combine  them  at  the  same  time  that  it 
threw  the  tract  of  investigation  still  more  widely  open. 
The  galvanic  fluid  possessing  remarkable  properties  of 
its  own  and  yet  capable  of  producing  all  electrical  phe- 
nomena on  the  one  hand,  and  magnetic  on  the  other, 
compels  to  the  conclusion  that  what  were  once  reckoned 
three  distinct  fluids,  are  in  reality  modifications  of  but 
one  agent.  And  the  wonderful  affinities  and  con- 
2 


18 


nections  which  this  has  with  light  and  heat,  raise  the 
query  whether  they  too  are  not  ultimately  traceable  to 
the  same  common  source.  And  further  still  in  this  pro- 
cess of  extension  and  simplification,  this  same  agent  has 
been  recognized  as  the  bond  of  chemical  affinity.  The 
power,  which  holds  the  elements  of  compound  bodies  in 
combination,  can  be  thrown  into  the  form  of  a current 
•of  electricity  and  conducted  along  the  voltaic  wire:  this 
power  can  be  accurately  measured  and  subjected  to 
rigorous  computation,  and  thus  Faraday  demonstrated 
that  the  gaseous  elements  of  a single  grain  of  water  are 
held  together  by  an  electrical  force  equivalent  to  800,000 
discharges  of  his  Leyden  battery,  or  a powerful  flash  of 
lightning.  And  this  again  explains  the  secret  of  the 
definite  proportions  in  which  alone  chemical  composi- 
tion takes  place;  the  combining  equivalent  of  each 
simple  element,  denoting  the  cqnstant  proportion  in 
which  it  enters  into  its  various  combinations,  being  pre- 
cisely represented  by  its  fixed  electrical  quality. 

It  is  needless  to  multiply  these  illustrations.  The 
simplest  matters  of  observation  involve  principles  or 
are  traceable  to  causes  which  have  endless  ramifications. 
The  study  of  physical  science  which  redeems  individual 
facts  from  their  isolation,  substitutes  clear  and  precise 
conceptions  for  vague  and  indefinite  notions,  which 
refers  phenomena  to  their  laws  and  effects  to  their 
causes,  brings  into  operation  the  faculties  of  the  mind 


19 


and  gives  them  that  training  and  developement  which 
is  the  object  of  every  wise  scheme  of  education. 

The  educative  power  of  the  physical  science^  appears 
further  from  the  amount  of  vigorous  thought  which  has 
been  expended  in  their  formation,  the  impress  of  which 
they  consequently  bear  in  their  own  structure,  and  leave 
more  or  less  distinctly  upon  all  the  minds  that  are 
brought  into  contact  with  them.  Men  of  the  highest 
acuteness  and  ingenuity  have  patiently  exercised  them- 
selves through  successive  ages  in  solving  the  problems 
which  nature  spreads  before  them.  % It  is  upon  the  pro- 
ducts of  their  toil  our  minds  employ  themselves,  and 
by  the  treasure  they  have  amassed,  we  are  enriched. 
In  the  beautiful  language  of  Professor  Whewell — “The 
present  generation  inherits  and  uses  the  scientific 
wealth  of  all  the  past.  * * * When  the  humblest 

inquirer  counts  his  little  wealth,  he  finds  that  he  has 
in  his  hands  coins  which  bear  the  image  and  super- 
scription of  ancient  and  modern  intellectual  dynasties; 
and  that  in  virtue  of  this  possession,  acquisitions  are  in 
his  power,  solid  knowledge  within  his  reach,  which 
none  could  ever  have  attained  to,  if  it  were  not  that 
the  gold  of  truth,  once  dug  out  of  the  mine,  circulates 
more  and  more  widely  among  mankind.”* 

Even  the  elemental  ideas  of  science,  the  foundation 
on  which  all  rests,  and  without  which  no  structure  could 


* Philosophy  of  the  Inductive  Sciences,  vol.  i.  p.  271. 


20 


be  reared, — ideas  which  once  gained  and  clearly  stated 
carry  their  own  evidence  with  them,  and  are  accepted 
as  axiom?,  were  nevertheless  elaborated  by  the  struggles 
of  ages,  and  men  worked  their  way  up  to  them  by  a 
slow  and  tedious  process.  To  the  uninstructed,  nature 
is  a vast  enigma,  containing  only  the  most  obscure  and 
distant  hints  of  its  own  true  solution.  Patient  and 
protracted  search,  involving  many  fruitless  endeavours 
and  many  perplexed  and  devious  wanderings,  was  the 
condition  precedent  to  the  discovery  of  the  truth. 
Why  does  a stone  continue  to  move  after  it  has  left  the 
hand  by  which  it  is  thrown  1 And  why  is  its  motion 
gradually  retarded  until  it  ceases  altogether]  These 
were  questions  that  all  antiquity  could  not  answer. 
The  great  Aristotle  had  nothing  better  to  suggest  than 
that  there  was  a motion  communicated  to  the  vair,  the 
successive  parts  of  which  urge  the  stone  onwards.  The 
cessation  of  the  motion  was  universally  attributed  to  the 
sluggishness  of  the  material,  and  its  inherent  disposition 
to  return  to  a state  of  rest.  The  conception  had  never 
dawned  upon  their  minds,  which  we  now  hold  to  be 
axiomatic,  that  matter  has  no  tendency  to  change  its 
state  whether  of  motion  or  of  rest.  But  until  this  con- 
ception had  been  distinctly  apprehended,  it  was  im- 
possible to  make  the  slightest  progress  towards  con- 
structing a science  of  mechanics  or  determining  the 
laws  of  force  and  motion.  And  then  only  was  the  way 


21 


open  to  determine  the  true  character  of  the  solar  system 
and  of  the  stellar  universe.  Without  this  primary 
principle  there  is  no  escape  from  the  old  idea  that  the 
stars  are  animated  beings,  moving  in  circles,  as  the 
most  perfect  of  figures,  and  the  earth  is  immovable  in 
the  centre. 

The  word  chemistry,  which  comes  to  us  from  the 
ancient  Greeks,  and  was  perhaps  borrowed  by  them 
from  the  Egyptians,  testifies  that  researches  in  this  direc- 
tion began  at  a very  early  period.  But  how  completely 
the  ancients  were  groping  in  the  dark  in  regard  even 
to  the  first  principles  of  the  subject,  appears  from  their 
doctrine  of  the  four  elements,  earth,  air,  fire,  and  water. 
The  notion  fundamental  to  the  whole  subject  of  the 
elementary  constituents  of  bodies  to  be  determined  by 
actual  analysis,  was  never  once  dreamed  of.  From  the 
Greeks  the  study  passed  to  the  Arabs,  of  whose  labours 
we  have  a reminiscence  in  the  technical  terms  alembic , 
alkali , alcohol.  But  how  far  they  still  were  from  dis- 
tinct and  true  conceptions  even  in  fundamental  points, 
appears  from  the  name  of  the  science  in  its  Arabic 
form,  alchemy , which  is  most  prominently  associated 
with  the  vain  endeavour  to  transmute  the  baser  metals 
into  gold.  This  delusion  is  inconsistent  with  the  first 
notion  of  the  essence  of  bodies,  which  can  never  lose  its 
identity  amid  all  mutations  and  combinations. 

The  sciences  are  thus  built  up  by  slow  degrees;  in 


22 


every  part  they  bear  the  evidence  of  severe  thought. 
They  are  the  results  of  clear  and  powerful  thinking 
persistently  directed  to  the  solution  of  intricate  and  dif- 
ficult problems.  From  their  simplest  truths  to  their 
loftiest  and  most  far-reaching  deductions  they  bear  the 
stamp  of  master  intellects  whom  it  is  in  the  highest 
degree  educating  to  follow. 

But  the  educating  power  of  physical  science  is  capa- 
ble of  being  put  on  higher  ground  than  this.  Though 
its  texture  is  human,  the  material  is  divine.  Man  is 
the  interpreter  but  the  handwriting  is  God’s.  The 
office  of  science  is  not  to  impose  human  ideas  upon 
nature,  but  to  uncover  those  of  the  great  Creator.  In 
studying  the  world  which  he  has  given  us  to  exercise 
our  minds  upon,  we  are  pupils  of  the  Almighty  and  the 
All-wise.  We  are  searching  into  his  plans.  We  are 
learning  to  think  his  thoughts  and  take  in  his  ideas. 
Every  arrangement  down  to  the  most  minute,  every 
method  adopted,  every  end  sought,  wears  the  stamp  of 
divinity.  And  then  there  is  no  school  for  grand  and 
lofty  conceptions,  for  ideas  fitted  to  enlarge  the  mind, 
exalt  its  powers  and  kindle  its  enthusiasm  like  this  in 
which  our  Maker  is  our  teacher.  What  could  give  a 
practical  impression  of  the  vastness  of  immensity  and 
boundless  space  like  the  lessons  of  astronomy, — or  of 
the  unnumbered  ages  of  a past  duration  like  the  revela- 
tions of  geology, — or  how  purely  relative  are  the  terms 


23 


great  and  small,  like  the  teeming  millions  of  micros- 
copic life  converting  a tiny  drop  into  a world  of  ani- 
mated being. 

And  what  can  surpass  in  grandeur  those  bold  yet 
simple  inductions  of  the  invariable  permanence  of  mat- 
ter and  of  force.  No  natural  agency,  no  created  being 
can  alter  the  amount  of  matter  in  the  universe  to  the 
extent  of  an  atom,  or  change  the  sum  of  force  to  the 
extent  of  the  feeblest  impulse.  They  can  add  nothing 
to  it;  they  can  take  nothing  from  it.  They  may  burn, 
pulverize,  scatter  to  the  winds,  strew  upon  the  sea,  con- 
vert into  invisible  vapor,  but  they  cannot  annihilate  a 
particle,  or  destroy  one  of  its  essential  properties. 
Every  atom  of  oxygen  that  the  world  contained  at  its 
formation,  is  in  it  now,  and  will  so  continue  to  the  end 
of  time,  with  all  its  properties  precisely  as  they  were  at 
the  beginning.  It  may  have  been  breathed  in  air,  and 
drunk  in  water,  and  eaten  in  food,  it  may  have  waved 
in  the  forest  and  roamed  in  the  animal,  it  - may  have 
been  hewn  out  in  the  rock  and  smelted  in  the  ore, — it 
may  have  entered  successively  into  thousands  upon 
thousands  of  combinations : — and  yet  through  all  these 
shifting  forms,  and  after  all  these  various  uses,  it  re- 
mains unwasted,  undiminished,  and  unaltered,  without 
the  slightest  modification  in  any  of  its  properties, — 
the  same  unvarying  atom,  changeless  in  the  midst  of 
limitless,  incessant  change. 


What  a commentary  on  the  language  of  inspiration, 
“I  know  that  whatsoever  God  doeth  it  shall  be  for- 
ever; nothing  can  be  put  to  it,  nor  anything  taken 
from  it.”  Eccl.  iii.  14. 

But  I proceed  to  remark  that  physical  studies  are 
well  adapted  to  cultivate  qualities  or  habits  of  mind 
essential  to  a well-balanced  character,  or  to  a properly 
educated  man.  It  teaches  humility,  that  prime  quality 
in  a philosopher  and  indispensable  element  of  true 
greatness,  by  showing  the  narrow  limits  within  which 
our  knowledge  is  confined,  and  the  ages  required  to 
evolve  truths  which  now  appear  self-evident.  It  teaches 
patience  with  difficulties,  unbiassed  love  of  truth  for  its 
own  sake,  habits  of  intelligent  observation,  the  ability 
to  extract  gratification  and  profit  from  whatever  is 
around  us ; and  in  the  combination  of  men  of  various 
nations  and  of  different  creeds  in  the  pursuit  of  a com- 
mon end  it  gives  promise  of  universal  union  and  fel- 
lowship, a dim  foreshadowing  of  that  glorious  future 
which  God  has  promised  in  his  word. 

I cannot,  however,  dwell  upon  these  and  other  points, 
which  naturally  suggest  themselves  in  this  connection; 
and  shall  barely  pause  a moment  upon  a single  feature 
of  character  of  great  consequence  which  the  discipline 
of  these  studies  is  calculated  to  cultivate  in  a high  de- 
gree. I mean  caution  in  drawing  conclusions,  not  rest- 
ing satisfied  with  deductions  from  partially  apprehended 


25 


facts,  nor  generalizing  too  hastily  from  narrow  premises, 
nor  accepting  that  which  at  first  sight  appears  plausible 
until  it  has  been  subjected  to  the  most  rigorous  tests. 
This  caution  is  characteristic  of  true  science.  It  is 
always  wary  of  being  misled  by  false  appearances,  and 
mistaking  the  seeming  for  the  real.  Nothing  is  accepted 
which  does  not  rest  on  a solid  basis  of  fact,  and  the  most 
cherished  opinion  is  discarded  or  freely  modified  when 
it  can  be  shown  not  to  be  coincident  with  well  estab- 
lished truth.  The  whole  range  of  physical  inquiry  is 
fruitful  of  illustrations.  The  history  of  every  science  is 
but  the  gradual  correction  of  what  was  at  first  incor- 
rectly conceived  or  inadequately  apprehended,  the  elim- 
ination of  errors  and  inaccuracies  by  rigidly  subjecting 
every  proposition  to  the  test  of  experiment  and  observa- 
tion. The  captivating  phlogiston  hypothesis  gave  way 
before  the  increased  accuracy  of  the  chemist’s  balance, 
which  established  the  fact  that  in  spite  of  appearances 
and  of  popular  belief  weight  was,  in  all  cases,  increased 
not  diminished  by  combustion,  and  therefore  the  process 
is  one  of  addition  not  of  subtraction.  Oxygen  is  added; 
not  phlogiston  set  free. 

Lavoisier  ascertained  that  oxygen  entered  into  the 
constitution  of  a great  number  of  acids,  and  hence  con- 
cluded that  every  acid  contained  oxygen;  but  the  dis- 
covery of  chlorine  and  hydrochloric  acid  showed  that  a 
limitation  was  necessary,  which  science  did  not  fail  to 


26 


make.  When  Dalton  propounded  his  atomic  theory  he 
supposed  that  he  had  settled  the  fact  of  the  existence  of 
ultimate  atoms  and  of  their  relative  magnitudes;  but 
further  research  has  shown  that  combination  in  definite 

i 

proportions  was  dependent  not  on  the  size  or  weight  of 
irreducible  molecules  but  of  the  electrical  quality  of 
simple  bodies.  There  seemed  to  be  much  to  favour  the 
hypothesis  of  one  electrical  fluid,  positive  and  negative, 
rather  than  of  two,  vitreous  and  resinous;  but  it  is  fatal 
to  the  former  that  it  required  the  assumption  of  a mu- 
tual repulsion  between  the  particles  of  matter  after  the 
electricity  has  been  withdrawn;  for  bodies  negatively 
electrified  repel  each  other  as  well  as  those  which  are 
positively  electrified.  So  the  hypothesis  that  light  and 
heat  are  imponderable  substances  long  struggled  for  the 
mastery  with  the  hypothesis  of  undulations;  but  the 
latter  has  at  length  possession  of  the  stubbornly  con- 
tested field.  Chemists  are  now  puzzling  themselves 
over  the  mysteries  of  isomeric  and  allotropic  sub- 
stances— compounds  of  precisely  the  same  constituents 
or  simple  substances  clearly  identical  and  mutually  con- 
vertible, and  yet  possessing  widely  different  properties, 
as  oxygen  and  ozone,  or  the  two  forms  of  phosphorus. 
Confronted  by  such  facts  as  these,  what  does  science  do? 
Hastily  conclude  that  substances  have  no  fixed  proper- 
ties, or  manfully  confess  ignorance  and  patiently  wait 
for  a solution,  assured  meanwhile  that  a solution  is  pos- 


27 


sible,  and  that  seeming  inconsistencies  between  clearly 
established  truths  will  some  day  be  cleared  up  % 

And  when  difficulties  or  apparent  inconsistencies  are 
alleged  between  physical  science  and  revealed  truth, 
what  can  the  true  philosopher  do  but  that  which  physi- 
cal science  is  perpetually  doing  in  its  own  domain'? 
Where  the  difficulty  arises  from  a misconception  or  mis- 
taken theory  on  one  side  or  on  the  other,  let  the  requi- 
site correction  be  applied  and  harmony  restored.  Where 
the  difficulty  after  every  attempt  at  explanation  remains 
insoluble,  patiently  wait  for  further  light.  Truth  can- 
not but  be  self-consistent.  Abandon  neither  the  evi- 
dence of  your  senses  on  the  one  hand,  nor  the  assurance 
of  a well-established  faith  on  the  other,  but  calmly  abide 
in  the  confident  anticipation  that  in  this,  as  in  hundreds 
of  instances  before,  an  increase  of  knowledge  will  reveal 
the  mutual  consistency  of  the  word  and  works  of  God. 

I have  already  taxed  your  patience  unduly,  and  can 
only  hint  at  what  I had  purposed  further  to  say. 

Physical  science  has  a claim  to  be  included  in  any 
complete  course  of  education,  on  account  of  its  striking 
analogies  with  moral  and  religious  truth.  These  belong 
to  different  spheres,  but  they  were  wrought  by  the  same 
Divine  hand  and  upon  a similar  model.  Ideas  gained 
in  the  one  tend  to  enlarge  and  clear  our  apprehensions 
of  the  other.  The  language,  which  we  constantly 
employ  respecting  the  higher  forms  of  truth,  is  largely 


28 


based  on  imagery  drawn  from  the  lower.  Light  is  the 
natural  emblem  of  truth  and  holiness  and  joy;  and  the 
knowledge  of  the  physical  properties  of  the  former 
opens  a fresh  insight  into  the  moral  relations  of  the 
latter.  The  grand  simplicity  of  the  law  of  attraction 
which  pervades  the  universe,  controlling  equally  what 
is  vast  and  what  minute,  the  near  and  the  remote,  con- 
straining all  to  orderly  and  harmonious  movement, 
exalts  our  conception  of  the  sublime  control  of  God’s 
great  law  of  love,  by  which  the  universe  of  moral  being 
is  controlled  and  harmonized,  and  made  to  circle  around 
himself.  In  “the  permanent  and  stable  course  of  na- 
ture, resulting  from  the  balance  and  neutralization  of 
contrary  tendencies,’! — centripetal  struggling  with  cen- 
trifugal forces, — winds  battling  with  waves,  heat  with 
cold,  acid  with  alkali,  pole  set  over  against  pole,  free 
play  allowed  to  mutually  conflicting  affinities,  and 
opposing  properties,  yet  all  so  adjusted  as  to  form  a 
perfect  equilibrium  which  the  roll  of  ages  cannot  dis- 
turb, there  is  presented  an  impressive  counterpart  to 
God’s  providential  agency,  in  which  all  things  work 
together  for  good,  in  which  evil  agencies  and  sinful 
passions  and  wicked  men  are  made  to  thwart  and  check 
each  other,  and  to  promote  instead  of  disturbing  the 
wise  and  holy  and  beneficent  purposes  of  the  great 
Creator. 

And  what  enlargement  and  expansion  is  given 


29 


to  scriptural  figures  drawn  from  natural  objects  by 
gaining  a fuller  knowledge  of  those  objects  them- 
selves. “ The  Lord  God  is  a sun,55  conveys  a striking 
and  impressive  truth,  when  we  think  of  the  sun  only  in 
his  obvious  character  as  a source  of  light  and  heat. 
But  what  new  energy  is  given  to  this  magnificent 
emblem  when  we  learn  from  astronomy  that  he  is  a 
grand  centre  of  attraction,  and  when  we  in  addition 
take  in  that  sublime  generalization  that  the  sun  is  the 
ultimate  source  of  every  form  of  power  existing  in  the 
world.  The  wind  wafts  the  commerce  of  every  nation 
over  the  mighty  deep,  but  the  heat  of  the  sun  has  rari- 
fied  the  air  and  set  that  wind  in  motion.  The  descend- 
ing stream  yields  a power  which  grinds  your  grain, 
turns  your  spindles,  works  your  looms,  drives  your 
forges ; but  it  is  because  the  sun  gathered  up  the  vapour 
from  the  ocean,  which  fell  upon  the  hills,  and  is  finding 
its  way  back  to  the  source  whence  it  came.  The 
expansive  energy  of  steam  propels  your  engines,  but 
the  force  with  which  it  operates  is  locked  up  in  the 
coal,  the  remains  of  extinct  forests,  stored  among  your 
hills,  or  is  derived  from  the  wood  that  abounds  in  your 
forests,  which  now  crown  and  beautify  their  summits. 
Both  these  primeval  and  these  existing  forests  drew 
their  subsistence  from  the  sun;  it  is  the  chemical  force 
resident  in  his  rays,  which  disengaged  their  carbon 
from  the  atmosphere,  and  laid  it  up  as  a source  of 


30 


power  for  future  use.  The  animal  exerts  a force  by 
muscular  contraction;  he  draws  it  from  the  vegetable 
on  which  he  feeds;  the  vegetable  derives  it  from  the 
sun,  whose  rays  determine  its  growth.  Every  time  you 
lift  your  arm,  every  time  you  take  a step,  you  are  draw- 
ing on  the  power  the  sun  has  given  you.  When  you 
step  into  the  railway  carriage,  it  is  sun-power  that 
hurries  you  along.  When  gentle  breezes  fan  your 
languid  cheek,  and  when  the  resistless  tornado  levels 
cities  in  its  fury,  they  are  the  servants  of  the  sun. 
What  an  emblem  of  Him,  in  whom  we  live  and  move 
and  have  our  being! 

Physical  science  has  a further  claim  to  take  part  in 
the  education  of  our  youth,  because  of  the  direct  testi- 
mony which  the  world  renders  to  its  glorious  author. 
The  whole  subject  of  final  causes,  and  the  argument 
from  design,  which  offers  itself  at  every  step  to  the 
student  of  nature,  here  lie  open  before  us. 

The  relations  of  science  and  revealed  religion  are 
manifold,  and  the  points  of  connection  are  continually 
becoming  more  numerous  and  important.  It  is  of  the 
utmost  moment  to  the  intelligent  Christian,  and  to 
every  thoughtful  man,  especially  to  them  that  are  to  be 
leaders  and  guides  of  public  opinion,  not  to  say  profes- 
sional defenders  of  our  holy  faith,  to  be  well  informed 
upon  the  whole  subject,  to  be  put  in  possession  of  the 
most  recent  phases  of  opinion,  and  the  latest  results  of 


( 


31 


scientific  inquiry.  It  is  only  thus  that  they  can  have  a 
correct  appreciation  of  the  exact  state  of  questions  that 
are  in  debate.  It  is  only  thus  that  the  friends  of  the 
Bible  can  be  saved  on  the  one  hand  from  the  heedless 
folly  of  abandoning  or  overlooking  their  own  strong 
points  of  defence,  criminally  spiking  their  guns  and 
betraying  them  into  the  enemy’s  hands;  or  preserved 
on  the  other  hand  from  resting  the  cause  of  religion  on 
weak  and  insufficient  arguments,  linking  it  with  false 
and  exploded  theories,  and  rendering  not  only  them- 
selves but  the  truth  of  God  ridiculous  by  the  ignorance 
and  unskilfulness  of  their  advocacy  of  it. 

I can  only  allude  to  what  is  the  most  weighty  con- 
sideration yet  adduced,  but  one  which  it  would  require 
a volume  properly  to  unfold. 

I have  not  referred  in  my  argument  to  the  practical 
bearings  of  physical  science,  to  the  valuable  uses  to 
which  this  knowledge  may  be  put  in  agriculture,  in  the 
mechanical  arts,  in  manufactures,  in  mining,  in  the 
various  trades  and  professions.  These  are  obvious,  and 
are  the  considerations  which  are  commonly  pressed.  It 
is  important  that  our  schemes  of  education  should  not 
be  disjoined  too  much  from  practical  utility  under  the 
idea  of  caring  exclusively  for  the  training  of  the  mind, 
the  developement  of  the  man.  We  want  men  trained  in 
such  a way  as  to  fit  them  for  ready  usefulness  in  the  ac- 
tive, busy  world.  And  on  the  other  hand  we  wish  that 


32 


those  who  merely  aim  at  wThat  they  think  a direct  pre- 
paration for  the  activities  of  life,  should  receive  in  con- 
nection with  it  a liberal  education,  a developement  of  the 
whole  man.  Hence  I rejoice  in  the  association  of  a 
scientific  course  with  the  college  as  a part  of  the  curri- 
culum to  be  pursued  there.  And  I have  aimed  to  show 
that  it  will  not  degrade  the  college  curriculum,  but  tend 
to  render  it  more  complete  and  effective,  to  give  to  the 
physical  sciences  an  enlarged  share  in  the  work  of  edu- 
cation, a share  better  proportioned  to  their  magnitude 
and  importance. 

I thank  you,  ladies  and  gentlemen,  for  your  patient 
attention ; and  join  you  in  wishing  that  Jenks  Chemi- 
cal Hall,  whose  corner-stone  we  shall  now  proceed  to 
lay,  may  long  continue  to  adorn  this  hill,  to  contribute 
to  the  usefulness  and  prosperity  of  Lafayette  College, 
and  to  perpetuate  the  name  of  its  generous  founder. 


* 


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